St. Mark The Evangelist

It is thanks to men like St.Mark that we have the gospel stories. Mark a cousin of St. Barnabas
grew up in a household where his Mother was a follower of Jesus and he witnessed the growth of
the infant church in his mothers front room. he must have lived in exciting times witnessing many
miracles and observing new converts coming to faith. He was only a youngster at the time of
Jesus’ arrest. in fact the young man with only a linen cloth wrapped around him who ended up
scarpering away naked when the Cohort seized him is assumed to be St.Mark himself.
We find Mark accompanying his cousin Barnabas  and Paul on their first missionary journey
however, he didn't seem able to hack all the hardships and left them Perga in Pamphylia to return
to Jerusalem, something that Paul found hard to bear.

A while later as Barnabas and Paul were preparing for a second missionary journey Barnabas
broached the subject with Paul about allowing his young cousin to accompany them. Paul refused
as he didn't trust him. This caused Paul and Barnabas to split and go their separate ways. Mark
accompanied Barnabas to Cyprus. Time as they say is a great healer. and it wasn't long before
Paul and Mark were reconciled to each other and Mark was of great support to Paul when he
found himself banged up in prison.
Mark was also a great friend of St. Peter. It is believed that Mark wrote his Gospel under his
mentors influence because he gives some very in-depth insights which only Peter would have
known.
Not much is known about St. Marks later life. it is certain that he died a martyr in Alexandria where
he was the first bishop. There were many who did not want to hear the “good news” in that city,
they resented his efforts to turn the locals away from the worship of their traditional gods. so in A.D
68 they took him and placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets of
Alexandria  for two days until he was dead.

According to legend, in a bold act of piracy  St. Marks body was stolen in 828 by two Venetian merchants. Well that's according to one legend another says these two Venetians were given his
relics by some priests who were afraid that his relics might be damaged or destroyed by the
Saracens during the persecution of the Catholic community in Alexandria. His relics were smuggled out of Egypt by hiding them in a barrel of salted pork, which was highly unlikely to be searched by those in authority. The relics were taken to Venice where St. Mark now resides in the Basilica bearing his name.

The symbol of St.Mark is a winged lion, so on his feast day I like to make ,lion" cup cakes. Simple, easy and very tasty. See the photos to give you an idea.